Blasian Featured in Netflix Show

The first ten episodes of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina was released on October 26th. The series is centered on Sabrina Spellman, a half-witch half-mortal. I'm a huge Netflix fan and was super intrigued by the trailer for this new show. In the trailer, I spotted a diverse group of witches in black dresses with lace collars. A brunette and redhead led by a brown-skinned beauty, they are the Weird Sisters, a trio of witches who have developed a sisterhood forged in their bond as orphans. In the trailer, the leader of the Weird Sisters, Prudence Night tells Sabrina, "You're gonna die, half-breed." This seems ironic when you realize that two of the actresses portraying the Weird Sisters are actually half-Korean. Adeline Rudolph (the brunette) is German-Korean, and Tati Gabrielle (the leader) is Korean-African American. 

Tati Gabrielle (birth name: Tatiana Gabrielle Hobson) was raised by her Korean American mother. Her father, a former basketball player from Ohio, is involved in the entertainment industry as a director and producer. She modelled as a child and graduated high school with a 3.7 GPA. She majored in Drama and French at Spelman College. She moved to Los Angeles and earned roles in the CW's The 100, Hulu's Freakish, and TBS's Tarantula. She was cast as Prudence in March 2018. 

Tati's mom was adopted from Korea and raised in Virginia by an African American family. She raised Tati to stay connected to her Asian roots, and the diverse Bay Area of California was a great environment for a mixed kid. Now Tati's starring in a show that is being lauded for its ethnic, racial, and sexual diversity. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is arguably one of the most strongly feminist television shows today, with women fighting against dominating patriarchal leaders in both the mortal and witch worlds.  

A Christmas special episode, A Midwinter's Tale, will be released on December 14th, and the second part of the first season is scheduled for release on April 5, 2019. Experience Tati Gabrielle's fierceness in this spellbinding  show!

Selected Sources:
* Mochi Magazine, "Actress Tati Gabrielle on Girl Power and Finding Identity", October 12, 2018.
* Status Magazine, "Tati Gabrielle Unveils the Magic of her Artistic Journey", October 1, 2018.

Naomi Osaka Wins U.S. Open

In October of 2015, Blasians Defined featured Naomi Osaka as the WTA Rising Stars Invitational Champion. Since then, Naomi was named the WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2016. She had a breakout year, making it to the 3rd round of all of the Grand Slam tournaments that she played in 2016 (Australian Open, French Open & US Open). The WTA Newcomer of the Year award is decided through votes submitted by members of the media and fans, with initial nominees chosen by the WTA based on players’ achievements throughout the year. Naomi was the 1st Japanese player to ever win the award.

And now Naomi has just won the 2018 US Open! She is the 1st Japanese woman to contest a Grand Slam singles final and the 1st Japanese Grand Slam singles champion. (It is believed she is also the 1st Haitian Grand Slam champion.) Now ranked in the top 10, she is the highest ranked Japanese player in history. 

Naomi's parents, Tamaki Osaka (from Hokkaido, Japan) and Leonard Maxime Francois (born in Haiti, raised in New York), met when her father was visiting Hokkaido while he was attending college in New York. Naomi and her sister, Mari (also a professional tennis player) were both born in Osaka, Japan.  The girls were given their mother's maiden name for practical reasons when the family lived in Japan.

Naomi with her parents and sister

Naomi has dual American and Japanese citizenship. Although the girls were largely raised in the United States, their parents decided that their daughters would represent Japan. Osaka's parents have said that, "We made the decision that Naomi would represent Japan at an early age. She was born in Osaka and was brought up in a household of Japanese and Haitian culture. Quite simply, Naomi and her sister, Mari, have always felt Japanese so that was our only rationale. It was never a financially motivated decision nor were we ever swayed either way by any national federation."

Her Haitian grandparents only spoke to her in Haitian Creole because they did not know English, while her mother spoke to her in Japanese. Her sister, Mari, speaks almost fluent Japanese. While Naomi can understand Japanese, she is not very confident to speak the language. At press conferences, she can take questions in Japanese but usually answers in English.

Some fans feel like her black identity is being erased. However, Naomi has repeatedly reminded reporters that she is Japanese and Haitian.

Selected sources:

* The Wall Street Journal, "Naomi Osaka: The Tennis Star Who Was Overlooked by Everyone", September 12, 2018.

* The Washington Post, "Japanese, Haitian, and now a Grand Slam winner: Naomi Osaka’s historic journey to the U.S. Open", September 10, 2018. 

* The New York Times Magazine, "Naomi Osaka’s Breakthrough Game", August 23, 2018.

* YonexUSA, "Naomi Osaka Named 2016 WTA Newcomer of the Year", October 24, 2016.

South Korea's First Blasian Model

Han Hyun-Min is the 1st black model in South Korea. Hyun-Min, 16, is half Nigerian in an ethnically homogeneous country where mixed race people often experience blatant racism with difficulty getting jobs and finding spouses. Mixed race children are commonly bullied and called "tuigi", a derogatory term meaning cross-bred animals. However, he is now appearing in top magazines.

African American Woman Finds Her Chinese Roots

Paula Williams Madison

Paula Williams Madison grew up in New York with a half Chinese, half Jamaican mother, Nell Vera Lowe. Her mother's Chinese father, Samuel Lowe, went to China in 1933 when Nell was 15 and never returned to Jamaica. Nell left Jamaica for New York to start a new life, but her Asian features set her apart, which contributed to her feeling of loss and loneliness.

Nell Vera Lowe, Paula Williams Madison's mother

When Paula retired, she decided to fulfill her childhood promise to her mother and find her grandfather. Her search into her family history took her from New York to Jamaica to China. Following a lead from a paternal cousin, who noted the significant Chinese-Jamaican community in Toronto, Paula attended a conference about the Hakka, a Chinese minority who is known for migrating overseas. There she found the first clues regarding what happened to her maternal grandfather. In just a few months, she found herself on a plane to China to meet her Chinese relatives. Once there, she found genealogical records for more than 150 generations. Her documentary and memoir, Finding Samuel Lowe: China, Jamaica, Harlem, are based on her journey to discover her roots.

Samuel Lowe, Paula Williams Madison's grandfather

Selected sources:

* Pointer, "Former NBC Journalist/Executive Paula Madison Finds the Story of Her Life", August 4, 2014.

* The Root, "A Black Woman's Search for Her Chinese Roots", August 14, 2014.

* Los Angeles Sentinel, "Retired Black Exec Finds Her Chinese Family", January 20, 2016. 

Blasian Makes Top 10 of Miss Universe

Ariana Mamiko Miyamoto (宮本・エリアナ・磨美子) was born in Nagasaki to a Japanese mother and an African American father (Bryant Stanfield). Her father met her mother while stationed in Sasebo with the United States Navy. Her parents married but divorced when Ariana was an infant. 

Ariana as a child with her mom

Ariana as a teen with her dad and half-sibling

In 2015, Ariana won Miss Nagasaki and went on to represent her prefecture in the Miss Universe Japan pageant. She was crowned Miss Universe Japan 2015 in March. She is the 1st hāfu to win the pageant. Upon her selection, she faced criticism for not appearing to be Japanese. There were comments that her face was too "gaijin", literally "outside person". Ariana is a Japanese citizen, born and raised in Japan and fluent in the Japanese language. She identified as Japanese and even holds a 5th degree mastery of Japanese calligraphy. Ariana wants to represent the new face of Japan. "International marriages are happening. There will be [more] biracial children. I want them to be as accepted in Japan as they would be in the U.S. I want society to get used to that idea."

Miss Nagasaki 2015 

Miss Japan 2015

When Ariana was 13, she moved to Arkansas with her father to attend two years of high school in the United States. As a child in Japan, she was often called "kurombo", the Japanese equivalent to the N-word. She says she felt normal for the first time in Arkansas, although she was still treated as a foreigner. In the US, she came to speak of , while in Japan, she still calls herself hāfu (biracial in Japanese). As Miss Japan, she presents herself as an ethnically mixed Japanese person.

Ariana went on to compete in Miss Universe 2015 in December, where she made it to the Top 10. Having represented Japan globally, reigning as the 1st half black Miss Japan, she serves as a role model for multiracial Japanese people and challenges the idea what it means to be Japanese.

Selected Sources:

* CBS News, "Beauty queen brings light to Japan's racial issues", April 13, 2015.

* New York Times, "Biracial Beauty Queen Challenges Japan's Self-Image," May 29, 2015.

* NBC News, "The First Multiracial Miss Universe Japan Has Been Crowned", March 17, 2015.

Blasian Wins WTA Rising Stars Invitational

Naomi Osaka is the WTA Rising Stars Invitational Champion. The WTA Rising Stars Invitational is a showcase event in Singapore that brings together 4 WTA Rising Stars age 23 and under through a fan vote to compete alongside the best of the best at the WTA Finals.

Born in Osaka, Japan to a Haitian father (Leonard Francois) and Japanese mother (Tamaki), Naomi was raised in the United States and speaks very little Japanese, but she has always played tennis under the Japanese flag. Her father registered Naomi with the Japanese Tennis Association, rather than the United States Tennis Association, due to her dual passport. Her diverse background and strong tennis skills could make Naomi the next big thing in tennis.

WTA Tennis, "Osaka Wins WTA Rising Stars International", October 25, 2015.

Blasian Athletes Shine at 2015 SEA Games

The 28th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games were held in Singapore from June 5 to June 16. A standout in the 2015 SEA Games was the performance of Team Philippines and their Fil-Heritage athletes, commonly known as Fil-Ams. The SEA Games Chief of Mission Julian Camacho confirmed that the Filipino team had the most United States-based entries. The final medal count for the Philippines included 5 gold medals, with 4 attributed to Fil-American athletes.

Eric Shauwn Cray (June 9)

Eric Cray and Kayla Richardson, a pair of blasian Fil-Americans, won gold in their respective 100-meter races, earning the unofficial titles of "fastest man and fastest woman in the region". Cray clocked in at 10.25 seconds, while Richardson finished at 11.76. Cray went on to set a new SEA Games record of 49.40 seconds on the way to gold in the 400-meter hurdles, breaking a 20-year-old record. Richardson also secured a silver medal in the 200 meters at 23.71 seconds. These 2 blasian athletes earned 3 of Team Philippines's 5 gold medals.

Kayla Anise Richardson (June 9)

Following the SEA Games, Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (PATAFA) president Philip Ella Juico faced criticism for the use of Fil-foreign players raised and trained overseas to mask the lack of programs for homegrown athletes. Juico took exception to the criticisms, saying Fil-Americans, are, in the end, still Filipinos.

"We have 10 million Filipinos around the world. We are sharing our human resources with the international community. When they are there, they inter-marry with locals and beget Filipino children who are half Filipino, half foreign. If we can use half foreign Filipinos for scientists, teachers, or engineers, why not use them for sports?", said Juico. "Why all of a sudden discriminating and frowning on this?, the former Philippine Sports Commission chairman added.

Juico said the only difference is that Fil-foreign athletes are based outside the Philippines by force of circumstances, and should not be stripped of their privilege to represent the country in international competitions. "Of course, we prefer homegrown talents but it's not their fault that they were born there."

Despite the criticism, Juico said they intend to recruit more Fil-Americans to beef up the athletics team. Juico spoke on this matter in a previous interview, stating, "If there are Fil-foreign (athletes), (athletes) with Filipino blood, why not? It's a global society now, it's a global community...if other countries can use this internationally-shared resource, why not us?"

Eric Cray - dubbed the "Usain Bolt of Southeast Asia" - responded to critics regarding the policy of searching overseas for talent with Filipino ties stating, "I just feel that if you have Filipino blood and you cherish the traditions of the Philippines, you know it's a great honor for me to be able to represent and I am just happy that they allow me to."

Selected Sources:
* Sports Interactive Network Philippines, "What's wrong with having Fil-foreign athletes, says Juico in face of SEA Games criticism", June 19, 2015.
* ABS-CBN News Channel, "New PATAFA head welcomes Fil-foreign athletes, coaches", August 7, 2014.